"Ah, yah, like, d'ya like, wanna gotothe maaaall?" asks Tennessee Thomas of Los Angeles' The Like.

She's trying to do an impression of a typical Valley girl in order to back up her statement, on the band's website, that this all-girl trio are not your typical Valley girls.

It's not terribly convincing but I can certainly see why Thomas, with her tones of privileged irony, might not have fitted in.

"There's a lot of hanging out at the mall in the Valleys," she says. "We didn't really hang out much at the mall. We decided that we'd be in a band instead."

Attracting such approving descriptions as "Nirvana refracted through The Bangles", The Like, despite graffitiing their dressing room walls with bunny rabbits, are currently avoiding the easy labels which stick to young, female musicians.

They formed in 2001 when Thomas and her childhood friend Charlotte Froom alighted on the doorstep of one Z Berg, who was rumoured to have been writing her own music.

"She played us one song," recalls Thomas, "and it was a proper song. We were really impressed and didn't go away."

All three are daughters of music industry veterans - Berg's was an A&R hotshot, Froom's a producer and Thomas' a long-time drummer for Elvis Costello.

But they were also teenagers, self-taught and pretty self-conscious about their playing - Froom had only picked up the bass two weeks before.

Yet they quickly evolved a set of comparatively complex pop in the tradition of The Pretenders, topped with Berg's thoughtful lyrics and thick rich vocals.

And, last year, America was treated to their debut album, Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking?, due for release here on March 13, which was produced by Wendy Melvoin (Prince, Revolution) and John Goodmanson (Bikini Kill, Death Cab For Cutie) and mixed by Alan Moulder (Elastica, My Bloody Valentine).

"It was amazing it all worked out really, 'cos that was our dream team," enthuses Thomas. "When we got Alan Moulder to mix it we were in heaven."

If you want a taster of their velvety grunge pop, the EP June Gloom (including a cover of Leonard Cohen's Famous Blue Raincoat) was out yesterday.

Written about "this strange layer of fog that just hangs over the beach in LA for an entire month", it was chosen because "we know that the English do love to talk about the weather and the gloom".

As evidence of their musical diversity, The Like like to draw attention to the fact they recently completed tours with both Tori Amos and Kings Of Leon, leaving them "somewhere in the middle, with a great understanding of how to be magical fairies and 24-hour hairy party people."

"I think we've picked up quite a lot of fashion tips," says Thompson with that assured high-school sarcasm. "Y'know, Tori taught us all about flowing gowns and beautiful necklaces. And Kings Of Leon taught us a lot about denim.

"You've never seen smaller jeans. Charlotte was the smallest person I knew until we met Kings Of Leon, but their jeans are like leggings. Their mum tailors them in at the bottom so that they can tuck them into their cowboy boots."